Translation: Julie Summers

I love frozen pizzas. And I’m not ashamed to admit it. They’re inexpensive, quick, and convenient – the perfect meal when you don’t feel like cooking and don’t exactly have an unlimited budget. When I asked my friends to identify the best frozen pizza on the market, they all expressed very strong – and very different – opinions. It seems like no one’s on the same page when it comes to frozen pizza. So, what is the best frozen pizza out there? I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands and get to the bottom of this once and for all.

For this experiment, I’ve decided to compare five different frozen pizza brands. There are quite a few more available, but for the sake of my health, I thought it best to limit my study to the five most popular ones. Each pizza will be scored on cost, quality, and actual appearance vs. how it looks on the box. To ensure the fairest comparison, I will only be tasting cheese pizzas.

Euroshopper:

Euroshopper’s margarita pizza costs a mere 198 krónur at Bónus, making it the cheapest pizza on this list. They’re practically giving it away. I have obviously eaten better pizza, but, on the other hand, I’ve never eaten a cheaper pizza. The sauce is great if you like your pizza sauce well-seasoned, but the flavor can be a bit overwhelming at times. The cheese, however, doesn’t have much to recommend it. It’s pretty tasteless and plasticky, and there’s hardly any of it. The crust was nice and soft, but at the same time I found I really had to chew it well. In all honesty, this was not a great pizza. I’ve heard good things about using a Euroshopper pizza as a base and adding extra cheese and garlic oil. However, in this experiment we’re only considering the pizza itself.

Cost: 10

Quality: 5

Box vs. reality: 4

Average score: 6.3

Goodfella’s Stone Baked Thin-Crust Margarita:

Although I’d never tried this pizza before, I’d heard a lot of good things about Goodfella’s garlic bread. The margarita pizza costs 398 krónur at Bónus, which I think is a pretty good price. This was a good pizza. The crust was the most disappointing part; it was soft, but actually kind of soggy. The outer crust was also a bit hard to chew. The cheese was good, without that weird fake taste you often get with a lot of frozen pizzas. The cheese ratio was also excellent. The sauce has a lot of seasoning, but it’s not as overpowering as the Euroshopper sauce.

Cost: 7

Quality: 7.5

Box vs. reality: 7.5

Average score: 7.3

Ristorante Mozzarella Pizza:

Ristorante’s mozzarella pizza costs 427 krónur at Bónus, placing it toward the more expensive end of the spectrum. I’ve never made a habit of reaching for Ristorante when I want a frozen pizza, but a lot of people I know are big fans. I thought it was good, but it should be noted that it has pesto and tomatoes, which give it a distinct flavor compared to the other pizzas I tried, which only had tomato sauce and cheese. Given the quality, the price is fair, and the reality isn’t too far from the photo on the box. Pretty pleased with it, and I must say, happily surprised. However, I should also point out that it was a bit watery, which I wasn’t particularly fond of. I don’t think this is going to become my go-to frozen pizza.

Cost: 6

Quality: 7

Box vs. reality: 8

Average score: 7.7

Chicago Town 2 Four-Cheese Pizzas:

This is the pizza I dreamed about taking to school in my lunch box as a child. They’re small, cute, and really the perfect size. A pack of two costs 328 krónur at Bónus, so I can’t really complain about the price. These pizzas have a lot of cheese, but even more sauce. The amount of sauce isn’t for everyone, but I happen to like a lot of sauce. This one isn’t too seasoned and has a bit of a ketchupy taste. Overall, I was pretty happy with this pizza.

Cost: 7

Quality: 6

Box vs. reality: 8

Average score: 7.7

Grandiosa Four-Cheese Pizza:

I was shocked when I saw the price of this pizza: 799 krónur at Hagkaup, dear readers. That makes it by far the most expensive pizza on the list. Sure, I bought this one at Hagkaup, while the others all came from Bónus, and I took that into account. But in my opinion, that doesn’t excuse the huge price difference. Turning our attention to the pizza itself, this was the second brand that I had never tried before. First of all, the cheese was nothing to celebrate. The seasoning wasn’t good at all and gave the pizza a bitter aftertaste. On the other hand, the crust was soft without being soggy. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with this pizza, especially considering the price tag; for that much money, I expected a lot more. Despite this rather negative review, I’m open to giving this one a second try.

Cost: 4

Quality: 7

Box vs. reality: 7

Average score: 6

Results:

I’ll tell you what, dear readers, no one is more surprised by the results of this experiment than I am. When I started out, I never would have imagined that Chicago Town and Ristorante would emerge triumphant – and tie for first place. I also thought there would be a more dramatic range of scores, but as you can see, they all scored pretty similarly. You could say that frozen cheese pizzas are all basically very comparable. Looking back, it would have been fun to conduct a more extensive experiment, tasting more brands and scoring them on even more factors. But for the sake of my health, that probably would not have been advisable. It’s possible to have too much of a good thing. It should also be noted that I have always been a big fan of pizzas from Iceland and Gestus, so it would have been fun to see how those two would have stacked up against the competition. Well, there you have it. According to my study, Ristorante and Chicago Town are the best frozen pizzas available.

Which Frozen Pizza is Best?